Engine mounted ECUs operate in a hot and hostile environment making it necessary to take special steps to cool the engine electronic control unit, because the function of electronic components may be impaired if they are overheated. Additionally, the heat generated by the ECU will shorten the life of the ECU if not transferred away.
It has previously been proposed to provide a heat exchanger(commonly called a chill plate) for supporting and cooling an ECU. The chill plate comprises a coolant chamber which, in use, is connected in a supply line through which passes the fuel flowing from a fuel tank to the engine. The chill plate serves to cool the ECU module by transferring heat to the fuel supplied to the engine. The known chill plates, however, have the disadvantage that they can only be used with ECUs having a flat heat sink of conductive material to which the heat generating electronic components are attached.